At last year’s ISE, CEDIA confirmed that workforce development was a key focus for the association by launching CEDIA NextGen: Smart Home Career Toolkit. One year on and finding and educating new industry talent remains at the top of the agenda for CEDIA.
Findings from the CEDIA 2023 Professional Smart Home Market Analysis showed that nearly half of participants indicated that workforce and labour shortages are impacting their business. The same report also found that over 50% expect to add a technical person to their team in the next year.
NextGen Toolkit
At the core of CEDIA’s workforce development activities is CEDIA NextGen: Smart Home Career Toolkit, which is designed to help integrators forge connections with local talent pipelines. The kit includes ready-to-use resources employers can present to colleges, trade schools, government agencies, community centres, and more. Community outreach assets include:
- Informative and energetic industry promotional video
- Presentations explaining the industry and viable career pathways
- Quick facts one sheet
- Jobseeker brochure
- Print-ready promotional poster
- Classroom presentation for integrators
- Regional presentations explaining the industry and viable career pathways and supplementary resources like videos, voiceovers, and salary survey results.
These resources make it easy for the CEDIA channel to give polished career fair and in-class presentations; educate career counsellors about the industry; and offer leave-behind assets for guidance offices, career centres, and employment offices.
Member Case Studies
CEDIA is delighted that a number of members have engaged with the programme and have begun building relationships with educational providers. Here are two examples:
James Ratcliffe, Managing Director of Homeplay
“I recently visited two colleges to generate excitement about the smart home industry and encourage students to consider the career opportunities that are available within this market.
Ahead of these visits, I decided that I needed something that could bring our industry to life and inspire the students. What we do is pretty cool, and we need to allow students to experience some of the tech that we work with on a daily basis to share that excitement. Working on behalf of CEDIA, I pushed forward with the idea of creating NextGen Tech Kits. Stored in easy to carry Pelican cases, these kits, which include products such as a Ring Doorbell, Sonos speaker, Alexa, Triathlon blind, and Lutron lighting, allow students to get the feel for how technology can be integrated together.
I’ve only done two presentations, but it’s been a learning curve and with each one I do, I know it will become easier. The CEDIA Toolkit is there for members to use and adapt accordingly, depending on who they are presenting to. Be aware that we are talking to kids, so integrators who do take part in this programme need to speak in their language and add their own personality into the presentation.”
Alan Matthews, Founder & CEO of Automated Spaces
“I was having discussions with local schools back in 2020 that got put on the backburner due to COVID-19. At the CEDIA Smart Home Awards in October 2022, [CEDIA Global President & CEO] Daryl Friedman asked if there were resources available to talk about the smart home sector, would everyone volunteer to talk at local schools? The next thing I know, the NextGen initiative was launched. When I looked at the collateral, I thought, ‘Oh, fantastic. Someone’s done the heavy lifting for me. This is great.’
Because we were talking to a local school, I felt it was appropriate to get another local smart home installer involved. I reached out to Richard Westmoreland, CEO of Stuart Westmoreland Ltd, to present as a unified front. We did our presentation for 80-100 students. A few stayed at the end to ask questions. Richard and I were enthused by the experience. I gave a presentation at the Leeds Tech Summit in April 2023 and the students reacted similarly.
Whoever is using the Toolkit should feel confident knowing they don’t have to stick to the script on the slide deck. You can add your own content. The goal is to talk about your experiences and day-to-day job, so it can be relaxed.”
All CEDIA NextGen: Smart Home Career Toolkit resources are free to download here: www.cedia.org/advocacy/workforce-development/nextgen-toolkit
